A long running Northern California missing teen case took a dramatic turn this week when a Stockton man was arrested Monday and indicted on murder in connection with a Sutter Creek girl who vanished in 2019. Joshua Anthony Martinez, 28, was booked on a murder count and alleged child sex offenses, a development that reopens a case that has left the teen’s family asking how and why for years.
Martinez is being held without bail at the San Joaquin County Jail after being booked on a murder charge and several alleged sex crime counts, including statutory rape, and could face up to life in prison if convicted, according to Fox News. He is scheduled to appear in Stockton Superior Court for a 1:30 p.m. hearing, with the county district attorney’s office planning a news conference afterward.
Background
Victoria Amairani Marquina was 16 when she was last seen on Oct. 6, 2019, while living in Sutter Creek, according to the state’s missing person records from the California Department of Justice. Her cellphone last pinged in San Joaquin County, and her car was later found abandoned in Escalon, details that have long shaped where investigators searched and which agencies took the lead.
Charges and previous probe
Martinez quickly emerged as a suspect after Marquina disappeared and was arrested in mid 2020 on sex related charges after being returned from Mexico. Prosecutors ultimately released him at the time, citing concerns over the strength of the evidence, Fox News reported. In earlier interviews, he told investigators he had dropped Marquina off in Sutter Creek and claimed she had lied about her age.
Cold-case review
The new indictment comes as San Joaquin County prosecutors work through long unsolved files under a cold case task force launched in April 2025. County officials said cases like Marquina’s were prioritized for renewed review and funding, according to CBS News Sacramento. Relatives say that extra attention has kept pressure on investigators to keep digging years after the teen vanished.
Legal context…